The probability for a complication after radiotherapy is usually a function of dose and volume in the organ or tissue of interest. In most epidemiological studies the risk for a complication is stratified in terms of dose, but not irradiated volume. We show that the obtained risk cannot generally be applied to radiotherapy patients.The epidemiological data of Darby et al. (N Engl J Med 368:2527...

The purpose was to compare the dosimetric results observed in 201 breast cancer patients submitted to tangential forward intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with those observed in 131 patients treated with a standard wedged 3D technique for postoperative treatment of whole breast, according to breast size and supraclavicular node irradiation. Following dosimetric parameters were used f...

The purpose of the present study was to compare a new internal mammary irradiation technique with traditional techniques for locally advanced breast cancers in terms of sparing ipsilateral lung and heart and reducing the "cold" and "hot spots"in breast tissue. The new technique uses wide tangential fields for the first eight fractions of treatment. A medial internal mammary field (IMF) of elect...

PURPOSE To quantify the radiation doses received by the heart and coronary arteries from contemporary tangential breast or chest wall radiotherapy. METHODS AND MATERIALS Fifty consecutive patients with left-sided breast cancer and 5 consecutive patients with right-sided breast cancer treated at a large United Kingdom radiotherapy center during the year 2006 were selected. All patients were ir...

Background: Tangential irradiation is the most popular postoperative radiotherapy technique for breast cancer. However, irradiation has been related to symptomatic radiation pneumonitis (SRP), which decreases the quality of life of patients. This study investigated the clinical features and dosimetric parameters related to SRP of the ipsilateral lung to identify risk factors for SRP in breast c...